In a recent essay, I named a number of "trees" in the forest of lies given to us by our leaders and our mainstream media:

JFK, RFK, October Surprise, Bush v. Gore, Nine Eleven, etc.

How do you suppose we get out of this forest?

Elections? But leaders in both parties have lied to us and covered up crimes.

Alternative Media? I like alternative forms of media but how long must we wait until a critical mass disregards the mainstream media's conclusions on the "trees"? And who is to say that alternatives won't be part of the controlled opposition?

Rounding up the criminals behind these events? Good luck with that. Since when has anyone gone to jail for anything I have mentioned.

The only real way to clear out the corruption is the unthinkable. We will simply have to think of a way around that.

Shortly before the 1980 presidential election, Ronald Reagan and his advisors asked themselves what they were willing to do to win.The polls were even and the election could go either way between President Carter and him.

The campaign ultimately interfered with President Carter’s foreign policy by offering weapons to Iran in exchange for a delay in the release of United States hostages held there.He further compromised us by making a similar deal in the mid-1980s which became known as the Iran-Contra affair.It has become apparent that these two transactions were connected by the same people and the same pathetic judgment.

The Reagan campaign probably justified the interference as justified because they thought we needed a new president.Many historians have glossed over this event or even suggested that it did not happen despite evidence brought forward by author Robert Parry, National Security Council member Gary Sick, Reagan campaign and White House staffer Barbara Honegger and others.

What we ultimately received for Reagan’s victory was a sell-out of what we need the most in our nation: free and fair elections, one foreign policy at a time and the integrity of those who lead us.More trickery in other elections has followed, including in the two George W. Bush “elections” in 2000 and 2004.

By accepting these unethical decisions, we have bought into an analogy called “a kingdom for a castle.”We have given up our values and who we truly are (the kingdom) in order to save our selfish desires and wants (the castle).

Since the Reagan debacle, we have not done any better.Consider these recent decisions by our leaders:

We have allowed drilling for oil in our oceans because we want profit.But we allowed the risk of polluting the waters, the fish and the beaches in exchange.Are the extra profits that valuable?Did we need the oil that much?

We have allowed torture of “terrorists” because we want information from them.But we have sold out whatever claim we had to the moral high ground in world affairs.Was the information that valuable?Or even reliable?

We have sent our troops overseas to fight the “War against Terrorism.”But we have lost so many of their lives in wars we could not even win.Do we have to fight this “war”?Are we in fact the real terrorists?

Our history becomes us.And history does not speak well of us at this time.

Still, it is not too late for the United States to make better decisions. It will take an embrace of a morality that says we should do what is right regardless of the rewards or punishments involved.The consequence is that our nation will retain as its kingdom an integrity that will be worth living in.